Theos-Talk Archives (November 2006 Message tt00166)

Friends,
 
It may be that  some scholars and  editors   are   anxious,  or even frustrated,   because the esoteric tradition does not open all of its texts and informations to them, or to their websites.   
 
But,  are these researchers  interested in the Wisdom itself,  or ?  is  their interest limited but to the outer, bureaucratic  and material aspects of the esoteric tradition and schools? 
 
Whatever their  answer to this perhaps uncomfortable question,  I have to say that the invention of esoteric schools cannot be safely ascribed to Mrs. Helena Blavatsky,  or to Mr. Robert Crosbie. 
 
But what are my sources, as I say  that?  Let?s take a look at some of them, at least.   
 
That most meek of Masters,  Lord Jesus, fraternally says in the New Testament: 
 
?Do not give what is holy to dogs ? they will only turn  and attack you.   Do not throw  your  pearls in front of pigs  ? they will only trample  them underfoot.?   (NT,  Matthew, 7: 6.) 
 
Kind words indeed.  
 
Yet before our scholars  blame  the NT Jesus for the creation of esoteric schools,  I must say in his defence that he was just repeating a much older practice and wisdom.  Some five centuries before  Christian Era,  Confucius   taught in ancient China, as the Analects tell us: 
 
?The Master said: ?I expound nothing to him who is not earnest, nor help out any one not anxious to express himself.  When I have demonstrated one angle and he cannot bring me back the other three, then I do not repeat my lesson?.?  (1) 
 
What does the Zen tradition say? 
 
In  ?The Iron Flute?, a collection of 100 zen  koans, one sees reference  to ?an ancient oriental proverb?: 
 
?It is useless to show the gold piece to a cat?. (2) 
 
 
Useless indeed.  But ?  does that mean that we, poor mortals, can?t have any access to the real, nearly eternal esoteric tradition? Not quite.  The dividing  line between having or not access to wisdom (?esoteric? or otherwise)  seems to be given by  one?s  own intention and motives. 
 
The NT Jesus teaches: 
 
?Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks will receive, and anyone who seeks will find, and the door will be opened to him who knocks.?   ( Matthew, 7: 7-8 ) 
 
Of course, you will receive according to the level of consciousness and intention with which you seek, as  Jesus goes on to  explain in the few lines after the above quotation. 
 
The New Testament Jesus turns it clear that Esoteric Schools or ?inner circles? are necessary for those students who are seriously committed to the search for wisdom.  He teaches: 
 
?You have been given the secret of the Kingdom of God.  But the others, who are on the outside, hear all things by means of parables, so that, ?they may look and look, yet not see; they may listen and listen, yet not understand?. ?   (Mark, 4: 10-12) 
 
Why is it?  The explanation is that  Jesus told people in the public ?as much as they could understand? (Mark, 4: 33), and nothing more than that.   Of course the verb ?to understand? here means the ?heart understanding?, not the merely ?mind reasoning?.  Jesus  was talking about the ?Heart Doctrine? as opposed to the ?Eye Doctrine?, which is  mentioned by HPB in ?The Voice of the Silence?. 
 
As to the ?three-dimensional? groups  related to the esoteric tradition and schools and existing in this 21st century,  it is up to each one?s good karma and discernment to meet or not to meet them.  
 
Each student  can harvest that which he has planted, either recently or in a more remote past.  But above all, each can seek and look for, according to what he finds to be the best in his own heart. 
 
The real esoteric school and  tradition is not physical,  and it is as old as our humanity ?  nay, older than it.  
 
Two things I can still add:  
 
1) This inner tradition has not to do with mere ritualistic organizations;   and,  
 
2)  It respects the inner autonomy of the learner (if it does not, it is not authentic).   
 
More about this can be read in  the books ?The Key to Theosophy?, ?Isis Unveiled?  and ?The Voice of the Silence?, by H.P.Blavatsky ?  among others.  
 
 
Best regards,    Carlos. 
 
 
ooooooooooo  
  
NOTES: 
 
(1)  ?The Analects?, Confucius,  Dover Thrift Editions, Dover Publications,  Inc., New York, copyright 1995, 128 pp., see p. 34, Book  VII, paragraph VIII. 
 
(2) ?The Iron Flute, 100 Koan?, Translated and edited by Nyogen Senzaki and Ruth Strout McCandless, published by Charles E. Tuttle Company, Rutland, Vermont, and Tokyo, Japan, second printing, 1985, 175 pp., see p. 23. 
 
 
 
O o o O o o O o o O 


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